soul, but by opposing his once offering of both body and soul, to these many sacri- fices, which, by the law of Moses, were offered up, not once, but frequently. Parker dc descensu, lib. 111. p. 146.
f That alone can have the nature of punishment, which is inflicted by a judge according to law ; but it is not agreeable to a law which threatens death, that, for the violation of it, that only should be inflicted which causes shedding a drop of blood. John Cumeron, p. 564.
1ERM. XII. THE FOUNTAIN OF £IFE. 157
infinite preciousness of Christ's blood, one drop thereof had been sufficient to have redeemed the whole world : for if one drop had been enough, why was all the rest, even to the last drop, shed ? Was God cruel, to exact more from him than was needful and sufficient : Besides, we must remember, that the passions of Christ, which were inflicted on him as the curse of the law, these only are the passions which are sufficient for our redemption from the curse of the law ; now it was not a drop of blood, but death which was contained in the curse : this therefore was necessary to be in- flicted. But surely as none but God can estimate the weight and evil of sin, so none but he can comprehend the worth and pre- ciousness of the blood of Christ, shed to expiate it. And being so infinitely precious a thing which was offered up to God, it must,
2. Needs be a most complete and all-sufficient oblation, fully to expiate the sins of all for whom it was offered, in all ages of the world. The virtue of this sacrifice reacheth backward as far as Adam, and reacheth forward to the last person of the elect spring- ing from him. That the efficacy of it thus reacheth back to Adam, is plain : for, on the account thereof, he is stiled " The " Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," Rev. xiii. 8.
And to the same sense a judicious * expositor understands those words of Christ, John viii. 58. " Before Abraham was, I am." And, look, as the sun at mid day extends his light and influence, not only forward towards the West, but also backward towards the East, where he arose ; so did this most efficacious sacrifice reach all the elect in the virtue of it, who died before Christ came in the flesh. It is therefore but a vain cavil, that some make against the satisfaction of Christ, to render it needless, when they say, many were saved without it, even as many as were saved before the death of Christ. •}• For they say, the effect cannot be before the cause, which is true of physical, but not of moral causes ; and such was Christ's satisfaction. As for example, a captive is freed out of prison from the time that his surety undertakes for him, and promises his ransom ; here the captive is actually delivered, though the ransom that delivered him be not yet actually paid. So it was in this case ; Christ had engaged to the Father to satisfy for them, and upon that security they were delivered.
And the virtue of this oblation not only reaches those believers, that lived and died before Christ's day, but it extends itself for- ward to the end of the world. Hence Heb. xiii. 8. Christ is said
* The efficacy and grace of Christ, as he is the Redeemer of the world, is com- mon to all ages. Calvin on this place.
f A natural cause goes before its effect, in respect of time, not so, a moral cause. Cameron's works, }). 56.
158 TIIE/OUXTAIN OF LIFE. SFRM. XTT.
to be " the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever ;" i. e. " * He is " not so a Saviour to us that now live, as that he was not their " Saviour also, that believed in him, before us, from the begin- * ning : yet not so a Saviour both to them and us, as that he shall «.' not be" the same to all that shall believe on him to the world's « end."
To the same sense are those words, Heb. xi. 40. rightly para- phrased; "God having provided some better thing for us, that " they without us should not be made perfect :" q. d. God hath appointed the accomplishment of the promise of sending the Mes- siah, to be in the last times f, that they (viz. that lived before Christ) should not be perfected, that is, justified and saved by ony thing done in their time, but by looking to our time, and Christ's satisfaction made therein ; whereby they and we are perfected to- gether. No tract of time can wear out the virtue of this eternal Sacrifice. It is as fresh, vigorous, and potent now, as the first hour it was offered. And though he actually offer it no more, yet he virtually continues it by his intercession now in heaven ; for there he is still a Priest. And therefore, about sixty years after his ascension, when he gave the Revelation to John, he appears to him in his priestly garment, Rev. i. 13. " Clothed in a garment " down to the feet, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle :" in allusion to the priestly ephod, and curious girdle.
And as the virtue of this oblation reaches backward and for- ward, to all ages, and to all believers, so to all the sins of all be- lievers, which are fully purged and expiated by it : this no other oblation could do. The legal sacrifices were no real expiations, but rather remembrances of sins, Heb. ix. 9, 12. Heb. x. 3. And all the virtue they had, consisted in their typical relation to this sa- crifice, Gal. in. 23. Heb. ix. 13. And," separate from it, were altogether weak, unprofitable, and insignificant things, Heb. yii. 18. But this blood cleanseth from all sins, 1 John i. 7. all sin, originating, or originated, or actual, flowing from them both. It expiates all fully, without exception, and finally, without revoca- tion. So that by his being made sin for us, we are made not only righteous, but " the righteousness of God in him," 2 Cor. v. 21.
3. And lastly, to name no more ; being so precious in itself, and so efficacious to expiate sin, it must needs be a most grateful oblation to the Lord, highly pleasing and delightful in his eyes. And so indeed it is said, Eph. v. 2. " He gave himself for us, an
* Nunc servator non est ita ut olim nonjuerit ; at que ut nonjit senator in *ttmiim— Camer. Myrothec. p. 337. ' f Dixon on this place.
SERM. XII. TUB FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 159
44 offering and a sacrifice to God, for a sweet smelling savour*.1* Not that God took any delight or content in the bittter suffering* of Christ, simply and in themselves considered ; but with relation to the end for which he was offered, even our redemption and salvation.